research Archives - Page 4 of 24 - The Keller Fay Group

Published: April 11, 2012 in Knowledge@Wharton It seems only logical that the more interesting a product is to consumers, the more they will talk about it. But the latest research from two Wharton professors suggests that when it comes to creating buzz-worthy advertising campaigns, how people communicate (e.g., whether they talk face to face or over email) is a big factor in determining what they discuss. In their paper titled, “How Interest Shapes Word-of-Mouth over Different Channels,” marketing professors Jonah Berger and Raghuram Iyengar explore the relationship between successful marketing and the methods used to spread it. The topic is especially timely in the digital age, when word-of-mouth relies largely on social media. Berger and Iyengar analyzed two unique sets of data involving thousands of everyday discussions across different conversation

By Ed Keller When people consume media together, either in-home or out-of-home, does it help or hurt advertising effectiveness? The argument that it hurts the advertiser is the “distraction” model, which argues that the presence of other people distracts people from on-screen content, reducing value to the advertiser. This is an argument put forth by Steven Bellman et al. in their 2011 paper “How Coviewing Reduces the Effectiveness of TV Advertising”. The argument that it helps the advertiser is the “social influence” model, which posits that the presence of other people leads to more emotional engagement and the sharing of advertising content, leading to higher ad effectiveness. This is an argument that Brad Fay and I put forth in The Face-to-Face Book, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster/Free Press in May

Entrepreneur.com By Mikal E. Belicove Posted November 23, 2011 The now commonly held notion that social media-related marketing is a requirement for business success may not carry as much water as once thought. Despite all the technological advances in recent years, especially in the realm of social media, a recent study suggests that the vast majority of public discussion about products, brands and services occur in everyday word-of-mouth encounters with others, not online. A yearlong study from the New Brunswick, N.J.-based research firm the Keller Fay Group, which included more than 32,000 participants, found that 91 percent of respondents’ information about brands came as a result of face-to-face conversations or over the phone. Just seven percent of word-of-mouth conversations about brands occurs online. The report shows that a well-rounded approach to

Congratulations to Pursway on its recent announcement that MetroPCS will be deploying its Influencer Marketing Management platform. We were particularly pleased to see this endorsement of the importance of word of mouth and influencer marketing by MetroPCS: “After working with Pursway for a year on several marketing programs, Pursway’s software has consistently identified key influencers and their followers within our customer base,” said James Sartain, Vice President, Strategy & Analytics, MetroPCS. “As a company that already enjoys strong word-of-mouth marketing, identifying and catering to an influencer customer’s specific level of interest in MetroPCS’ products and services provides additional leverage in our marketing programs to reach more potential customers.” Pursway’s patent-pending technology enables companies to identify, measure, and impact how opinion leaders shape their followers’ purchasing decisions. Using Pursway’s big data

Business 2 Community By Mike Bayfield, Published March 27, 2012 The Arab Spring. Occupy Wall Street. The London Riots. All of these events and many more – good and bad – seem to have at least one thing in common; the way in which ideas have been shared through social media. But mass movements have been around long before Mark Zuckerberg was in diapers, and recent research suggests that its role in their creation may be overstated. According to Ed Keller of the Keller Fay Group, in his new book The Face-to-Face Book: Why Real Relationships Rule in a Digital Marketplace, “the vast majority of sharing occurs in the normal fashion, evidenced in real-world word of mouth.” Social media only actually accounts for about 10% of total word of mouth.

The WOMMA Word Posted March 28, 2012 By Pat McCarthy An interview with Brad Fay and Ed Keller, Co-founders of the Keller Fay Group, COO and CEO respectively; and co-authors of the forthcoming book, The Face-to-Face Book: Why Real Relationships Rule in a Digital Marketplace. Brad and Ed will Keynote at WOMM-U, May 7-9, about the research findings from their book that prove how all media are social. How does the “social media is word of mouth on steroids” argument miss the mark? In several ways. First, there’s nothing more impactful than a face-to-face word of mouth conversation. When we compare the credibility of advice about brands, we find that face-to-face gets the highest scores, followed by phone and then online. Face-to-face interaction has the benefit of emotion and facial

MediaDailyNews Posted March 26, 2012 by David Goetzl Much has been made about TV driving online social media interaction. But what about the traditional tell-your-neighbor stuff? In industry argot, it’s word of mouth (WOM), and new CBS research shows TV and paid advertising in other media -– in a world where fewer people seemingly talk to each other offline –- still generate significant conversation. Offering perhaps the same conclusion he would have 50 years ago, Brad Fay, COO of the Keller Fay Group — which conducted the research for CBS — said: “Word of mouth and advertising actually go hand-in-hand together. They work together fabulously well.” The research showed that in 20% of word-of-mouth conversations about specific brands, a person refers to paid advertising. Furthermore, among media trendsetters, which is

Brains on Fire Posted on March 26th, 2012 by Robbin Phillips We’re all in marketing grad school. Surrounded by massive changes in how we communicate, we need to study and share and listen hard with an open hearts and minds. The good folks at KellerFay are some of the best “professors” I know in the Word in the Mouth Marketing world. At Brains on Fire, we discuss and share their research and findings with each other and our clients often. Which is why I’m super excited about their new book coming out on May 22nd called The Face-to-Face Book. Last night I sat down to write a post inspired one of Ed’s recent posts: Social Media is Word of Mouth on Steroids, or is It? Part II When I was

MediaPost Posted Mar 15, 2012, 3:36 PM By Sarah Mahoney, Don’t miss anthropologist Grant McCracken’s Culturematic: How reality TV, John Cheever, a Pie Lab, Julia Child, Fantasy Football, Burning Man ….will help you create and execute breakthrough ideas (Harvard Business Review Press). McCracken has a fine old time identifying hundreds of these nifty culturematics, as he calls them, “little machines that … test the world, discover meaning, and unleash value.” By definition, these ideas are a little wacky, but built on questions that spark some kind of curiosity. And while they are most likely to occur in small groups or people working on their own, these shots-in-the-dark do sometimes work for large marketers, and readers will love the backstories. What if we put a bunch of real people, not actors,

The jacket cover for Ed Keller and Brad Fay’s forthcoming book has just been finalized. What do you think of it? And thanks to Chuck Porter of Crispen Porter + Bogusky for his very kind blurb: “Everyone whose on the social-media-is-the-future bandwagon should get off for a minute and read this book.” The publication date is May 22, and preorders are now being accepted wherever books are sold online.